ECA Board meets in preparation for the 2012-13 season

The Euroleague Commercial Assets Board met in Barcelona on Wednesday to close the book on a highly successful 2011-12 season that met all estimated profit projections and to plan for even better seasons ahead. The main order of business was to approve the teams that will play next season in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, which will feature a new Top 16 round expanded to 14 games, and in the Eurocup, where the qualifying round was eliminated and a single-game final reestablished. The board also analyzed a summary of last season's sporting and fiscal success before making plans to enhance fan enjoyment and security in the future.

In the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, the board approved the awarding of a new two-year A License to Italy’s most successful basketball club ever, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, to replace one that became a wild card following the sports results over the past three seasons of another Italian team, Lottomatica Roma. Among the B-License teams are newcomers Besiktas JK Milangaz of Turkey, Elan Chalon-sur-Saone of France and Cedevita Zagreb of Croatia. A wild-card C License for Alba Berlin of Germany was approved by the board, taking into consideration the importance of the German market for Euroleague Basketball and its interest in developing the basketball business in that country. Wild cards were also given to Bennet Cantu of Italy and Unics Kazan of Russia for the eight-team Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds.

The complete list of teams that will participate in the 2012-13 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season is as follows:

TEAMS (24)

COUNTRY

DOMESTIC STANDINGS

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

Turkey

Finalist

Asseco Prokom Gdynia

Poland

Champion

BC Khimki Moscow Region

Russia

Finalist

Besiktas JK Milangaz Istanbul

Turkey

Champion

Brose Baskets Bamberg

Germany

Champion

Caja Laboral Vitoria

Spain

Semifinalist

Cedevita Zagreb

Adriatic

1st Croatian in Adriatic League

CSKA Moscow

Russia

Champion

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan

Italy

Finalist

Elan Chalon-sur-Saone

France

Champion

FC Barcelona Regal

Spain

Champion

Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul

Turkey

Quarterfinalist

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius

Lithuania

Finalist

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv

Israel

Champion

Montepaschi Siena

Italy

Champion

Olympiacos Piraeus

Greece

Champion

Panathinaikos Athens

Greece

Finalist

Partizan mt:s Belgrade

Adriatic

1st Serbian in Adriatic League

Real Madrid

Spain

Finalist

Unicaja Malaga

Spain

9th in Regular Season

Union Olimpija Ljubljana

Adriatic

1st Slovenian in Adriatic League

Zalgiris Kaunas

Lithuania

Champion

Alba Berlin (Wild Card)

Germany

Quarterfinalist

Winning team of Qualifying Round

-

-

* See bottom of the text

Those teams participating in the 2012-13 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds are as follows:

TEAMS (8)

COUNTRY

DOMESTIC STANDINGS

BC Donetsk

Ukraine

Champion

Bennet Cantu (Wild Card)

Italy

Quarterfinalist

CEZ Basketball Nymburk

Czech Republic

Champion

Le Mans Sarthe Basket

France

Finalist

PBC Lukoil Academic

Bulgaria

Champion

Ratiopharm Ulm

Germany

Finalist

Telenet BC Oostende

Belgium

Champion

Unics Kazan (Wild Card)

Russia

6th in Regular Season

* See bottom of the text

The Qualifying Rounds winner advances to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season while the other seven teams will play in the Eurocup Regular Season.

The competition changes in the 2012-13 Eurocup, returning to two-game home-and-away semifinals and a single-game final, were also approved by the board. Changes also included the elimination of the Qualifying Round phase of the competition, although the number of participating teams (32) remains the same. The system will look like this:

REGULAR SEASON

· 8 groups of 4 teams

Top 2

6 weeks

November, December

LAST 16

· 4 groups of 4 teams

Top 2

6 weeks

January, February

QUARTERFINALS

· Home and Away

Winners

2 weeks

March

SEMIFINALS

· Home and Away

Winners

2 weeks

March

FINAL

· Single Game

1 week

April

Those teams participating in the Eurocup Regular Season are as follows:

The board also heard and approved proposals to address future security problems with increased sanctions, up to and including permanent disqualification from the competitions, as well as deepening the cooperation between the league and clubs so as to avoid violence in the arenas. All members agreed that any violent fan behavior is prejudicial to basketball’s status as a family friendly sport. Board members approved the heightened measures and a zero-tolerance policy towards unsportsmanlike behavior.

In a review of the just-completed 2011-12 season, the board heard details of how the Turkish Airlines Euroleague's reach is expanding both in terms of audience and social impact. Last season marked the highest number of television partners in competition history, 71, whose broadcasts of Turkish Airlines Euroleague games reached 174 countries on all five continents. Audiences for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Magazine, 32 half-hour shows seen in 31 countries on a weekly basis, topped 100 million in the 2011-12 season. Board members were also given a review of the current television agreements that are under negotiation.

With regards to Euroleague.tv, board members saw end-of-year numbers that showed a surge in subscribers to the different commercial packages offered, as well as an evaluation of improvements such as multi-language options and higher broadcast quality.

The board also heard how the new social responsibility program One Team, backed by additional sponsorship from Turkish Airlines, has taken root in the last few months with a training workshop, seven local team projects and a major event at the Final Four.

Finally, the board looked ahead to the next Final Four at O2 in London, the 2012 Olympic Games basketball venue. Board members reasoned that London is a strategically important market for Euroleague Basketball, due to its commercial possibilities as well as the benefits of having the partnership with AEG grow. Euroleague Basketball directors have already held organizational meetings and are actively working on making the next edition of the Final Four better than previous editions.

All items that have been discussed will be presented at the Euroleague Commercial Assets General Assembly for approval.